"Sony didn’t actually show us the PS4’s casing… So what?"

[ps3freak18]

After Sony finally revealed the PlayStation 4 last week, I expected (and got) a wide range of reactions from gamers and industry watchers about various aspects of the new system: the new controller, the lack of native backward compatibility, the system's newly announced games, and its hardware processing power, to name a few.What I really didn't see coming, and do not fully understand, is the focus on the fact that Sony didn't let us look at the plastic casing that will hold the upcoming system.
Reaction to the lack of an actual PS4 box at last week's unveiling was fast and skeptical. "We haven't seen the box. Or triangle, or orb, or whatever this non-existent hardware for the PlayStation 4 might look like," Gizmodo noted right after the event was over. "Sony stoked our excitement, and there's no way to be satisfied. What a bummer."
"Unless [the PS4] console is invisible, Wonder Woman airplane-style, no one actually saw it," news.com.au joked.
"What if Sony threw a product launch party but the product never came?" the Motley Fool asked rhetorically.
"Sony shows PlayStation 4 capabilities, but no box," read the AP headline.
"Sony Holds PlayStation 4 Press Event, Doesn’t Show PlayStation 4," wrote Daring Fireball's John Gruber, before calling the entire reveal a "shit show."
Microsoft got its punches in as well, with community manager Larry "Major Nelson" Hryb tweeting, "Announce a console without actually showing a console? That's one approach."
He wasn't the only one making fun on the social-networking service. "Wait, what? Where's the box? Did Sony just prank us?" Popular Science wrote on its feed just as the show was ending.
"Sony pulls meta prank on tech/game press! Banksy is *very* impressed," wrote one Twitter user. "Sony?! Why you no show the console itself?!" wrote another meme-obsessed watcher.
After the show, Sony president and CEO Jack Tretton admitted to AllThingsD that the casing was missing from the event because it wasn't yet finalized. "We don’t have a mass-production box that we can bring out and pull out," he said. "That’s still in development in terms of final specs and design."
But Sony representatives also pushed back against the idea that the actual casing the system will be in was all that important at this stage of the game. "The console is just a box," Sony Worldwide Studios President Shuhei Yoshida told Polygon. "The controller was very important to show because it has the share button, but the console is just a console."
Sony UK boss Fergal Gara said that while he understands the frustration over the issue, "frankly, a box is a box. Is that really the most important thing?"
Sony Europe's Jim Ryan added to the chorus, suggesting that "in our mind it's like 10, 20, 50 times more important to demonstrate what that PS4 can actually do as opposed to what it looks like."
It’s just a box

I have to take Sony's side. Compared to the things the company actually announced during the conference—decently detailed hardware specs, live gameplay and engine demos, game and partnership announcements—what the console actually looks like seems relatively unimportant. It would have been one thing if the casing's no-show came after a press conference that was nothing but a string of buzzwordy promises with no actual content or announcements to back them up, but that's not what happened.
The actual PS4 casing, whatever it looks like, isn't really going to be that important to the way you actually experience the console. Like every console that's come before it, the PlayStation 4 is going to be a box that sits in your entertainment center. You'll interact with it directly for maybe five seconds while you put in a disc and turn the system on (even less if you download games and use the power button on the controller). After that, you'll be ignoring the casing for hours as you stare at the images on the TV screen—you know, the kind of images that Sony actually made the focus of its announcement last week.
Sure, those images were running on development hardware and not a finalized product, which might lead some to think the actual system won't be up to that kind of performance. But those development kits are tuned to emulate what the shipping hardware is going to be capable of running, so developers know what kind of performance level to target. And Sony has already confirmed what kind of input and output ports will be on the final system, so we don't need to see the final housing to get that information either.
I'll admit that a console's form factor does matter a little, as Sony itself has proven by slimming down the PS3's shell two times since the release of the quite-massive launch unit. The tiny Wii was much easier to cart around than its direct competitors, and who can forget the part the GameCube's cute little handle played at the system's unveiling.
To my mind, though, all this focus on Sony's missing box seems to be serving as a proxy for the more legitimate concerns about the other things Sony still hasn't discussed regarding the PlayStation 4. It was hard not to notice that we didn't get a price point or precise release date for the console, which are pretty important bits of information. No one outside of the presenters (and Jimmy Fallon) has actually gotten to touch the controller, which could be seen as worrisome. We've heard extremely few details about the new PlayStation Eye camera or the system's Gaikai-powered streaming features or other details that people want to know about.
Of course, all of this information will be revealed at and after June's E3 show, and this kind of long, slow rollout of new hardware is commonplace in the game industry. But on this score, I think the market has been reconditioned in recent years by Apple's announcement strategy, which keeps new products closely guarded secrets until a full reveal mere days (or minutes) before they're available on store shelves. The last time someone tried that in the game industry was in 1995 when Sega made its surprise Saturn launch announcement, a move that helped the system get trounced in the marketplace by... Sony's original PlayStation.
I understand the need some people have to see a physical product in order to think it's real. But what Sony showed on stage last week proved that the PS4 is a real product, and an impressive bit of hardware to boot. Eventually we'll get to see the magical black box that converts electricity and wireless controller inputs into the stuff we saw on that stage. Until then, just trust that there's a system behind the curtain making it all work.

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2013/0...asing-so-what/

This has been something that I've been kind of annoyed by lately. I want to hear what everyone's opinion is on this. It just goes to show all the negativity that is surrounding anything Sony does these days. Look at some of the articles and quotes that is in the article. It's funny that people find nothing but one bad thing to harp on and completely ignore all the good. If the case wasn't ready, so be it. Sony wanted to do one thing and jump the gun on MS and not be left ignored like the beginning of last gen. I think the hype is quite large for PS4 right now so what does it matter in the end that we didn't see the shiny plastic. What are your thoughts? I think it is quite narrow minded to think not showing the console itself equals failed show.

[unicron7]

Pretty much what I'm saying bro. Those that have some unwarranted beef with Sony will always find something to bitch about. Let the haters hate. I'll be enjoying my purchase.

[PeanutButterMunky]

Pretty much what I'm saying bro. Those that have some unwarranted beef with Sony will always find something to bitch about. Let the haters hate. I'll be enjoying my purchase.

Yep. I'm sure it'll look cool.

[T0PGUN]

Shit has gotta look good under these smart tv's now, so no it aint just a box

[ps3freak18]

Shit has gotta look good under these smart tv's now, so no it aint just a box

All the Playstations have looked pretty damn cool in my book. I don't see any reason to be worried.

[podsaurus]

It has to be a fancy box!

I don't really care that I didn't see what is looks like but it would have been nice.

[ps3freak18]

It has to be a fancy box!

I don't really care that I didn't see what is looks like but it would have been nice.

Definitely would have been a nice cherry on top but all is not lost like many suggest.

[Updator]

It doesn't bother me that I didn't see it at all. I'm sure it will look great and as long as I see what it looks like before it arrives at my door I'm happy.

[HellsJester]

The Sony PS4 event needed to show 3 things

-Controller = Check
-New features and tech = Check
-Games = Check

As long as the console does what Sony says its going to do without overheating then that is all that matters. Not the look of it.

[Coconut_Crunch]

They're nutcases, ignore the people in that article. This gives me something to look forward for E3.

[Two4DaMoney]

I'll never understand the small bunch with the petty argument about what the ps4 looks like. They act like Sony can't save things to reveal at a later date.

[Kuro]

Lol some people find every little thing to bitch about.

[PeanutButterMunky]

Lol some people find every little thing to bitch about.

If it looked like a bag of pistachios, I'd still buy it.

[admartian]

"Sony cures cancer!!"

One week later...

"Sony didn't actually cure AIDS as well...So what?"

Pretty much what will happen this gen (see this gen for example). Let's get used to it folks. The more we can make fun of it the better.


IMO, the worst thing to happen to Sony in terms of public perception and how MS/Xbox is seen as a brand is that it's (the XBOX) an American/Western made console, and that Sony is not.

That's where 98% of all FUD articles are from - arsetechnica, wired, engadget, official XBox magazine ( ) - that hate on Sony.

If the Xbox was from some Argentinian company; we wouldn't hear any of this crap.

#RacismITellsYa #Xenophobia

[unicron7]

If it looked like a bag of pistachios, I'd still buy it.

With the specs given the damn thing could look like this, and I'd still buy it.

Ar7HbSy.jpg

[Lefein]

They'll need to figure out the cooling solution. Once they do that, then they can get a box out there.

[Serinous]

I don't think anyone will disagree if I say that Sony's announcement would be PERFECT if they actually show the product's design along with everything they've showed.

[coolguy]

Any linkz to see the pic of the case..

[Kakihara_Anjo]

We are going to see a lot more awesome things coming at e3. Sony didn't want to show everything, and let e3 be all about microsoft.

[ps3freak18]

With the specs given the damn thing could look like this, and I'd still buy it.

Ar7HbSy.jpg

Must be a prototype. I like the way the tape meets the edge. Awesome stuff!

[PeanutButterMunky]

With the specs given the damn thing could look like this, and I'd still buy it.

Ar7HbSy.jpg

Looks legit.

[ps3freak18]

Looks legit.

Yeah straight up Sony leak!

[GreatSpaceKoaster]

I'll never understand the small bunch with the petty argument about what the ps4 looks like. They act like Sony can't save things to reveal at a later date.

Shall we count the amount of PS3 Vs. Xbox 360 pixel counting threads and posts that have permeated this and other forums over the years? There's a section dedicated to it. I guess it all depends on your bias. If you are a Sony fan of COURSE these will be dismissed and had Microsoft pulled this instead of Sony, the same people would be making fun of them for not showing it as well.

It's like bias in the rest of the world. Women's groups raked supreme court justice Clarence Thomas over the coals during his confirmation hearings over a pubic hair on a coca cola can and inappropriate comments. Yet these same women's groups were shockingly silent and supportive of Bill Clinton after the rape, sexual harassment accusations..... not to mention relations with a intern that was his workplace subordinate. It's called a double standard.

Sony showed what was most important at the end of the day.......but to slam those that kinda expected a console at a console debut is just childish. Nobody said it was the end of the world...... but apparently how dare they complain at all.

BTW... there are haters on both sides of the console war fence. He without sin shall cast the first stone I suppose.

[radgamer420]

They'll need to figure out the cooling solution. Once they do that, then they can get a box out there.

I think it has more to do with that than anything else. We'll see the box at E3.

[Bigdoggy]

It doesn't really matter since everyone is going to lean to one side more be it Sony or Microsoft.